If a forged Vermeer or Rembrandt is discovered, it is world news. Yet tracing fakes has long been a low priority in art history. University lecturer Anna Tummers will receive an ERC grant of almost two million euros to change that.

Many traces of the city's slavery history can be found in Leiden but the public isn't always aware of them. The initiators of 'Mapping Slavery in Leiden' want to change this with guided tours and street markers. Representatives of the University and other Leiden institutions will be giving the first…

Emma Grootveld is a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society.

Mark Rutgers is Professor of Social Philosophy. As philosopher he specialises in the philosophy of administration and public sector values. All his research has been in the humanities and typically covers conceptual linguistic and historical subjects.

Ellen van Reuler is a lecturer at the Institute of Political Science.

Conference

As University historian, Pieter Slaman researches the University’s past, but he’s equally interested in its present. ‘It’s useful to be familiar with issues from the past. Not to be rooted in the past because some developments from history are things you definitely don’t want to repeat.’

Few people would associate the name Anton de Kom with Leiden. Yet the Surinamese freedom fighter is the subject of an exhibition at Museum De Lakenhal.

Until September 2024 Marie-Leen Ryckaert was Senior Lecturer Design History & Theory and Research Fellow at ArtEZ University of the Arts (Department of Interior Architecture) for fifteen years. She is currently conducting research on Film and Architecture (Faculty of Humanities).

‘All the groceries, but not a fig for young workers’, read a banner during the occupation of Ahold’s headquarters in 1981. ‘For a long time, young workers were not taken seriously, but they managed to put themselves on the map’, says historian Rosa Kösters.

The Surinamese-Dutch language, Parbo Beer and, of course, football. The ‘Dear Aunt Olga’ (‘Lieve tante Olga’) exhibition focuses on the shared Surinamese-Dutch culture. Full of cheer and with life experience to spare, ‘icon’ Aunt Olga (95) leads visitors through a shared history and does not shy away…

A successful series of lectures on interior design, a symposium on four-poster beds and a new series of study afternoons on the horizon. University lecturer Alexander Dencher knows how to hold the attention of a growing audience. How does he do it? And what makes the history of interior design so fa…

Henrike Vellinga is a PhD researcher for the

Hannelore Braeken is a PhD candidate at the Economic and Social History section of Leiden University. She is researching loneliness with individuals with mild intellectual disabilities. Hannelore studied history at KU Leuven and the Universidad de Cádiz, and obtained her master's degree in 2024 with…

Brian Shaev is a Lecturer at the institute for History.

Satrio

Richard Griffiths is Professor Emeritus of International Studies.

Saskia van Anen is a PhD Candidate at the Institute for History.

Ysbrand Lamers is a PhD candidate at the Institute for History.

S.J. (Sil) Douma MA LLM (2001) studied Classics and Law at Leiden University (both cum laude). Since September 2024, Sil has worked at the department of Legal History ad a PhD student and researches the reception of Augustine in the oath theory of medieval canon law.

Marinus van Hekken is a PhD candidate at the Institute for History.

Katarzyna J. Cwiertka is professor of Modern Japan Studies at Leiden University.

Alisa van de Haar is Assistant Professor in historical French Literature. Her research focuses on historical multilingualism, the history of the language sector, and the intersection between language and migration. From 2022 to 2026, she conducted a Dutch Research Council Veni project titled ‘Languages…

South African poet Antjie Krog will be the writer in residence at Leiden University in autumn 2021. Krog is famous for her poetry collections and books, which are often inspired by the history of South Africa. In her role as writer in residence, she will give the annual Albert Verwey Lecture and a series…

GIFs, memes and videos: anyone who opens a social media platform can be in no doubt that today we live in a visual culture. But the role of images in social communications isn’t new, says Associate Professor Marika Keblusek. She has been awarded a Dutch Research Council (NWO) Open Competition (Large)…

Céline Zaepffel is a Lecturer in French literature and culture. Her research focuses on the transmission of ideologies through modern children's literature and culture, based on an intermedial and sociological analysis of children's media and the historical and cultural context of their publication.…

Judith Naeff is Assistant Professor Cultures of the Middle East at Leiden University with a main interest in contemporary Arabic visual culture and literature. She has worked mainly on cities & urban imaginaries and memory & temporality.

I am the Special Chair for Central European Studies, Assistant Professor of Judaism & Diaspora Studies and Director of the Austria Centre Leiden. From 2025-2030, I am the Principal Investigator of “A Century of Care: Invisible Work and Early Childcare in central and eastern Europe, 1905-2004” or CARECENTURY,…

Geert-Jan Janse has always been fascinated by the way objects can bring the past closer. On 16 November, he will present a Museum Talk about his work as the director of the Vereniging Rembrandt (Rembrandt Association).